1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic business card exchange system and method, and particularly, to an electronic business card exchange system for transmitting/receiving business card information over a network, a terminal for exchanging such an electronic business card, an electronic business card exchange method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Instead of giving a paper business card to someone, it is now possible to communicate information described on an electronic business card such as name, organization name and telephone number to someone using electronic mail over the Internet. One of well-known data formats for electronic business card for use over the Internet is RFC2426-vCard MIME Directory Profile. For example, such a format is disclosed by Dawson and one other “vCard MIME Directory Profile,” (Online) September, 1998 (searched on 28 Dec. 2004). Hereinafter, information relating to electronic mail or electronic business card such as name, organization name and telephone number will be collectively referred to as contact information, and sometimes as business card information as necessary particularly in connection with business cards.
Business card information transmitted in the data format contains character strings for a numbers of sets of contact information to be superimposed on a business card image. An electronic business card contains an image of the card and its business card information and is presented on a display screen of a recipient's computer as shown in FIG. 1, for example.
FIG. 1 illustrates an electronic business card displayed on a computer display screen. The electronic business card of FIG. 1 shows the image of the card 100 as well as business card information including company name 101, job title 102, personal name 103, ZIP code 104, company address 105, e-(electronic) mail address 106, telephone number 107, and URL 108. Contact information such as 101 to 108 is received by a receiving computer in the form of character codes, and after being converted from the character codes to images by the receiving computer, converted images are superimposed on the business card image 100 to be presented on the display screen.
Such standardization of business card information has enabled improvement of convenience for users in the field of electronic commerce and the like.
On the market, now available are electronic business card exchange systems that produce and exchange electronic business cards through cooperative operation of an electronic business card processing program and a communication program. For instance, InterConnect2004™, which is an electronic business card processing program, realizes exchange of electronic business cards through cooperation with Outlook2003™, a communication program, as backend. InterConnect2004™, an electronic business card processing program, mainly realizes the capability of composing electronic business cards. Outlook2003™, a communication program, mainly realizes the capability of exchanging electronic business cards using electronic mail.
FIG. 8 illustrates an example of system configuration of such an electronic business card exchange system. The electronic business card system shown in FIG. 8 includes personal computers (hereinafter “PCs”) 200 that are interconnected via a communication network 250.
Since the PCs 200 can be commercially available ones, their hardware will be described only briefly. The PC 200 includes a hard disk (hereinafter “HD”) 210, a central processing unit (CPU) 221, a system memory 222, a display 223, an input device 224, and a communication device 225 such as a modem.
The CPU 221 executes various programs. The system memory 222 stores input/output information for the CPU 221. The display 223 displays information processing result from the CPU 221 and input information from the input device 224 on the display screen under the control of the CPU 221. The input device 224 has a pointing device such as a mouse as well as a keyboard, inputting information to the CPU 221.
The communication device 225 transmits/receives electronic mails to/from a mail server 260 within a provider over the communication network 250. The communication device 225 also connects to the communication network 250 to communicate with other PCs 200. The mail server 260 communicates electronic mails with another mail server 260 over the communication network 250. A database (DB) server 270 is a DB server maintained by a company when the PC 200 is a company PC, for example, providing database capabilities for managing various types of data.
The HD 210 stores therein such objects (i.e., data and programs) as follows. An electronic business card 201 is an object that is generated by an electronic business card processing program 202 or received from another PC 200 and stored in the HD 210. The electronic business card 201 is a data set (i.e., a collection of a plurality of data) including character strings in the form of character codes and image data for background images for the business card.
The electronic business card processing program 202 is a program having the capability of composing electronic business cards. An electronic business card local file 203 stores produced or received electronic business cards, information for managing such electronic business card (collectively referred to as management information), and various types of information relating to electronic business cards (collectively referred to as relevant information, encompassing management information). Upon installation, the electronic business card processing program 202 creates an electronic business card local file 203 having no contents in it as the initial state.
A communication program 204 is electronic mail software program for sending/receiving electronic business cards using electronic mail to/from other PCs 200 and also for sending/receiving general electronic mails not containing an electronic business card. A communication program local file 280 stores produced or received electronic mails, information for managing such electronic mails, and various types of information relating to electronic mail. Upon installation, the communication program 204 creates a communication program local file 280 having no contents in it as the initial state.
The electronic business card processing program 202 and the communication program 204 are installed in the HD 210 from a storage medium such as a compact disk (CD) read-only memory (-ROM) and a Floppy® disk or via a communication medium.
The communication program 204 transmits/receives electronic business cards and/or electronic mails via the mail server 260. The communication program 204 stores or retrieves contact information for an electronic mail received or to be transmitted to/from the storage for the communication program 204 (i.e., the communication program local file 280 and the DB server 270) as necessary. The communication program 204 stores or retrieves an electronic business card received or to be transmitted to/from the electronic business card local file 203 via the electronic business card processing program 202.
The electronic business card processing program 202 transmits a produced electronic business card via the communication program 204, and displays produced or received electronic business cards stored in the electronic business card local file 203 on the screen of the display 223.
However, with such an electronic business card system described above with reference to FIG. 8, one cannot view electronic business cards from outside an office when the PC 200 is a company PC, for example, because electronic business cards are stored only in the electronic business card local file 203. Additionally, although the electronic business card processing program 202 operates with the communication program 204 as backend, the electronic business card producing capability of the electronic business card processing program 202 and the electronic mail capability of the communication program 204 operate separately from each other.
Accordingly, the conventional art described above leaves a lot to be improved in that cooperation and collaboration of the functions of the electronic business card processing program 202 and the communication program 204 are thin in exchange of electronic business cards.